The Elements of Betties: Meet "M"

M is earth. M is solid, reliable, and kind. M’s eyes sparkle when she’s thought of a new idea. Her feet are always planted firmly on the ground; her head is always in the right place.

M wants to do well in school. M wants to go to college. She tries not to involve herself in drama, because she thinks it distracts from her studies.

M had a hard time making new friends when you met her, she had trust issues, she did not think she could be friends with the other girls because that had hurt her in the past. M stayed with Betties though because she thought it was a great opportunity, and saw the value of being in a space for young women only…Even though she struggled to belong in the group.

This year M is an 8th grader, and you’ve never seen her shine brighter. She has made friends easily, and she has forgiven the people who hurt her in the 6th grade. You see her flit between the different girl cliques at school, and she continues to stay out of the drama and participate in class. You wonder if Betties helped her to forgive her classmates and learn how to make new friends.

M still has a hard time learning to trust new people, and she has an even harder time trusting her body to learn new things. You can’t blame her, you know she was bullied most of her childhood.

M is a Betty. She’s always cautious when she is learning a new activity. You know she’s scared to fall. However, she always pushes through and takes things in stride. You know that at the end of the skateboarding lesson she’ll let go of the wall. You know that at the end of rock climbing she’ll have made her way to the top. You know that during roller-skating she’ll stand up and do one lap around the track. It just takes her time to build confidence.

Maybe someday she’ll have the confidence to immediately let go, but it’s not right now, and that is ok.

M is earth.

By Hannah Nolan, Program Coordinator and After-School Instructor for Betties360